Weekend Roundtable: 2014 Home Theater Wishes

This has become something of an annual tradition around here. As we close the books on 2013, let’s look forward to the things we’d like to see in 2014. Do you have a favorite movie still waiting to be released on Blu-ray? Would you like to upgrade some of your home theater gear? Tell us about it in today’s Roundtable.

Shannon Nutt

I already got an early wish when Universal announced last week that the studio is finally releasing ‘Somewhere in Time’ on Blu-ray in March of 2014. Now my hope is that Disney will finally bring 1988’s ‘Shoot to Kill’ to high-def. The film marked Sidney Poitier’s return to the big screen after a decade’s absence. He plays an FBI agent who teams up with a local mountain man (played by Tom Berenger) to track down a diamond thief/kidnapper/killer in the Pacific Northwest. It’s basically another buddy cop movie (though Berenger’s character isn’t a cop), but one that’s elevated by Poitier’s acting. If you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend giving it a view.

I could come up with oodles of unrealistic home theater wishes for 2014, but I’ll be practical here instead. I have hopelessly run out of media storage space. My living room has right at 3,000 different releases piled onto more shelves than I can count, and that’s just Blu-ray (okay, and a few stragglers on HD DVD). I have another thousand DVDs stacked in no particular order in a closet upstairs. The idea of getting that all onto a media server is daunting, to say the least, and I’m not crazy about the idea of putting the discs in thin sleeves. I like having an unnecessarily large film library, but I wish that I had some way to more efficiently display, store and organize it. I’m getting married next year, and when “my house” becomes “our house,” I don’t think what I’m doing now is going to fly.

Luke Hickman

Having just purchased a new 55″ LG TV, I’m pretty content with my home theater gear at the moment. For where I’m at, my set-up is fantastic. However, when Mrs. Hickman and I look into purchasing our first home in the new year, I’m going to need to throw a new TV into the mix. This time around, I’m hoping to pick up a 3D model. While I’m not the biggest fan of most theatrical 3D, I do enjoy the capabilities of 3D TVs.

My Blu-ray wish list has contained the same two movies for years, but I’m fortunate enough to see one of them coming in April. I’m a die-hard Cameron Crowe fan and couldn’t be happier that ‘Vanilla Sky’ is finally going Blu in April. Now, I just need Zach Braff’s ‘Garden State’ on the format. Hopefully, with Braff’s new Kickstater-funded film coming to Sundance and theaters this year, co-distributors Fox Searchlight and Miramax will decide to finally make my wish come true.

M. Enois Duarte

Ever since I got into the A/V hobby as a teen, I’ve always been interested in the idea of building speakers from scratch, but I never had the tools, parts, know-how or the time required. Two years ago, however, I finally built my first subwoofer, a 12″ driver inside a 4 cu.ft. ported box with a 500W BASH amplifier. As much as I love how it beautifully evens out the low-end response of my room, especially for music, I think I can still use a little more oomph – meaning, I want more SPLs.

This next summer, I’m going to build a pair of dual-opposed 18″ Stereo Integrity subs inside 8 cu.ft. sealed boxes. They’ll be pretty large in my room, but with a lovely flat-black paint job, they should also look very nice. The only thing I’m still trying to decide about is whether I want to feed each driver 2000W of power (that’s 4000W total for each box), or if 1000W will be sufficient to deliver the sort of response I want. By the way, the goal is to have a flat 10 Hz response in the room. That’s my home theater wish for 2014.

Brian Hoss

I’m loving both the new PS4 and Xbox One, but the 2014 game that I’m most looking forward to is easily ‘Dark Souls II’. The beta sessions that I’ve had are some of the most tense of any game I’ve played, and I’ve been glued to my home theater while struggling through the game’s world. Beyond that, or a miraculous Ultra HD set-up, I hope that 2014 sees my local sports teams escape from their cable war lockout (20 months so far), so that I can actually watch them play.

Josh Zyber

This time last year, I had just purchased a new house and started planning a major renovation to turn the basement into a proper home theater. After many delays and a long, arduous process, I think I’ve finally got the room just about where I want it. I’m satisfied enough with my equipment that I don’t think I need any immediate upgrades.

Of course, just as I’ve gotten that settled, now I have two kids on the way, which will surely throw a big wrench in the works. Although I’m sure this won’t be an issue for at least several months (when the little monsters start crawling around), I foresee my lovely theater being overtaken and turned into a messy playroom.

And you know what? I’m happy to make peace with that. My wish for 2014 is to see my boys grow healthy and strong, and that I can find a good way to strike a balance between my family life, my writing responsibilities here, and my home theater obsession. If I could squeeze in a couple movies here and there that don’t involve singing animals, that’d be swell.

Here’s hoping that all of you get everything you want in 2014 as well. Have a great New Year!

About Josh Zyber

Josh Zyber is a veteran movie and video disc reviewer from Laserdisc to DVD and beyond. He's previously written for DVDFile.com, DVDTalk.com and Home Theater magazine. These days, he wastes most of his free time managing this blog and writing the occasional Blu-ray review for High-Def Digest.

Scott

As Dennis said above, there is one film that I have been waiting for more than any others. I have wanted this one more than Star Wars, more than Jurassic Park and more than Indiana Jones:
TRUE LIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hurry it up already Cameron! And while you are at it release The Abyss!
And Bad Boys 2 and Twin Peaks.

And planning to pick up a new 3D projector in the coming months.

Elizabeth

I will third True Lies and second The Abyss. But if I have to pick just one, I’d rather have a release of the special edition version of The Abyss. If they want to make me really happy, they’d release Strange Days and give it a newly remastered and restored print.

As a huge Disney fan, my Disney wish is for them to release the Disney Teeasures series on Blu-Ray and release a set of the complete Lilo and Stitch TV series (and include the two related movies, Stitch! The Movie and Leroy and Stitch). I’d even settle for a DVD release.

For the home theatre, I’d like a new receiver since mine belongs to the DVD era. No HDMI, no lossless codecs. Not that I have anywhere to put all the speakers, but I’d like it to support 9.2 surround. And of course I’d need some new speakers to go with it.

And my super geek wish is for Firefly to return as a TV series with a minimum 2 season commitment from the network airing it.

Fox

Paul A

Include me in the votes for True Lies, The Abyss and Strange Days. Can’t believe they are still only available in non-anamorphic DVDs. However, Strange Days is on Netflix streaming and definitely looks better than the DVD. I would also love the director’s cuts of Tombstone, Armageddon and The Brotherhood of the Wolf (the French version is useless to me as it is region locked). More Greta Garbo as well. Ninotchka!!

Chris Bennett

As far as Blu Ray releases for 2014, I’d love to see the 80s action comedy Midnight Run with Robert Deniro get a release date, I’ve always felt it was one of the most underrated films of the genre.

Also, I believe Luke has mentioned this recently: when is Matchstick Men coming out in HD? As a huge Ridley Scott fan, I’m scratching my head as to why this still hasn’t been released.

I’m also hoping to see some greatly improved transfers for the upcoming new releases of Robocop and the much-maligned Alec Baldwin superhero flick The Shadow, since pretty much all releases of the latter have looked like ass on any format.

For theatrical release, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the newest American installment of Godzilla actually turns out to be worthwhile as opposed to the 1998 Roland Emmerich debacle (shudder).

Strongly agree with True Lies on blu. Also very looking forward to Ms. 45. Some Godzilla flicks on bluray would be awesome. It would be nice if Friday the 13th part 3 would get a proper 3D release, and why not Jaws 3D as well, along with some 80’s 3D titles. I look forward to seeing Tenebre, Phenomena, and Suspiria. Ravenous on bluray would make me very happy.

Freakyguy666

Still waiting for U2 3D on bluray. Best concert film ever. Ridiculous that they spent so much money and it was only in theaters for a few weeks. Demand is huge but legal issues holding it up for years. Here’s to a resolution in 2014!

“Strange Days”, eh? I remember seeing ads and posters in my theater lobby and being intrigued by a badass Ralph Fiennes looking at me. However, you had to be 16 years old to see it (even with adult supervision!) and I was just 11. A huge let-down.

Elizabeth

Angela Bassett is the real badass in the movie. She looks amazing in this film. It’s sort of become a New Years tradition to watch it since it takes place on the Millennium Eve. I’d love a Blu-Ray release or at least an anamorphic DVD.

EM

James

Want to get a 84 inch 4K TV but under € 10.000,– ! At least one 4K Movie by the end of 2014 would be fine !
True Lies and Bad Boys 2 are still missing in HD on Disc. Moreover the 3 classics: Heaven can wait (Lubitsch), It happened one night and
Sullivan´s Travels.

August Lehe

1. Song of the South – Disney
2. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea -Disney
3. Tap Roots Starring Van Heflin, Susan Hayward and Julie London
4. The Innocents
5. Lonely are the Brave
6. War of the Worlds (note: a Blu Ray from three-strip Technicolor might be a stretch!)
7. Mighty Mouse Collection
8. Baby Huey Collection
9. Red River starring John Wayne
10. Shepherd of the Hills starring John Wayne
11. The Alamo starring John Wayne from 70mm

Bill

1. Around The World in 80 Days (Todd AO)
2. 55 Days At Peking
3. The Alamo 70 mm (John Wayne)
4. Exodus
5. Oklahoma (also Todd AO)
6. Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance
7. Eight Men Out
8. The King and I (Yul Brynner)
9. The Greatest Show On Earth
10. The Train

And Sir Kenneth Clark’s superb art history series from the late 60s, Civilization (BBC).

Finally, I understand that True lies is already confirmed for 2014 on BLU.

Scott Hunvald

I would like these movies on blu-ray next year, the iron giant, true lies, aladdin, a version of predator that doesn’t look like claymation, and it already was announced, but can’t wait for an American tail on March 4th

CP

You’d think after the passing of Gandolfini, HBO would invest in releasing those other seasons in HD – but I guess the original Blu-rays didn’t sell very well (hint: Because we already dropped $$$ on the DVDs, HBO!).

I think 2014 is the 15th anniversary of the show, so I’d love to see a new Blu-ray boxed set with a ton or brand-new features – but HBO doesn’t seem to care very much about going back to update catalog material – For example, I would LOVE to see ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ on Blu-ray, but I know that’s never going to happen.

Kirby Anderson

So many great movies still missing on blu! My fondest wish is for a box set of Pink Panters,Rooster Cogburn, Blue Hawaii and Jack the Ripper with Micheal Caine and Jane Seymore. For Hardware, a programmable bluetooth remote and blue to ir converters!

Bob

How about a restored version on BD of “Carousel” and a movie remake of “Forbidden Planet”? One other wish – release the extended version of “The Hobbit – Desolation of Smaug” without trying to make extra on the non-extended edition first.

malakai

Like Josh, I’ve been building a home theater room (well home theater/living room) but am taking a lot more time getting it done. Recently, I’ve gotten three cinema/theater seats and will be mounting them on a carpeted riser with bass shakers in them soon, got a second 12″ klipsch subwoofer, and have been doing a lot of work on the media closet lately.

I’ve recently ordered a composite + s-video scaler w/both digital and analog audio (auto-senses digital and if the signal isn’t available reverts to analog) inputs which I’ll probably use to scale up my laserdisc player and maybe VHS and/or older gaming systems that don’t have RGB output. Next payday, I’m looking to purchase an scart to hdmi 1080p scaler and scart switch box, along with scart cables/connectors for scaling my sega saturn, genesis/cd/32x, and snes.

Other than that, my main home theater wishes for 2014 are to upgrade to a 9.2 receiver and purchase a 1080p 3D projector.

DB Russell

Matt G.

My number one blu-ray release wish is Song of the South. I don’t understand why Disney shies away from it. I know there’s plenty of racial tension, but we ought to have moved past it well enough by now. I think the time is right for it and I would pick it up in a heartbeat no matter the price.

Other than that, I want a small, simple surround sound system in the living room, and I want to start building a home theater system in my movie room. I have a nice subwoofer I want to keep, but it is time for the soundbar to go.

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This blog serves as a catch-all for topics, beyond Blu-ray, that interest us as home theater junkies including movies in theaters, high-definition gear, television shows, video games and 3D programming.